Nicolas Roche

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Nicolas Roche
Personal information
Full name Nicolas Roche
Born July 3, 1984 (1984-07-03) (age 27)
Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, France
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 70 kg (150 lb)
Team information
Current team Ag2r-La Mondiale
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type All-rounder
Amateur team(s)


2002
2003
2003-04
2004		 Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club
OCC Antibes
OCCV Draguignan
SC Nice
VC La Pomme Marseille
Cofidis (stagiaire)
Professional team(s)
2004–2006
2007–2008
2009–		 Cofidis
Crédit Agricole
Ag2r-La Mondiale
Major wins
MaillotIrlanda.PNG Irish National Road Race Championship (2009)
Infobox last updated on
Sept. 12, 2010

Nicolas Roche (born 3 July 1984) is an Irish professional road bicycle racer. He has twice been national champion and has numerous top ten finishes in Grand Tour stages. He represented Ireland at the 2008 Olympics and 5 times at the UCI World Championships.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Roche, who was born in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, France, is the son of former cycling champion Stephen Roche and his former wife, Lydia, nephew of former cycling professional Lawrence Roche and cousin of 2008 Irish road champion Daniel Martin. Roche was educated at Blackrock College, a private school in Dublin, before moving to south of France in 1999, where he spent most of life since. He currently resides in Varese, Italy.

[edit] Career

[edit] Early Years

He turned professional at the end of 2004, with team Cofidis and became one of the youngest Pro-Tour racers.[1] As his father is Irish and his mother French, Roche had dual nationality as an amateur. In early 2005, Roche was told by French officials to choose between his two nationalities. Roche declared for France as he was planning to spend the rest of his life in France.[2] The loss of Roche was a blow to Irish cycling,[3] as he had won the 2002 Junior Tour of Ireland[4] and finished third in the 2004 Irish Elite championship.[5] However, six months later, the UCI and Cycling Ireland told Roche he was given incorrect information, and that he could compete for Ireland and keep his two nationalities, which he did.[6]

During his first two years, he was often a domestique, but he did get a few good results, mostly in French Cup races. His first win as a professional was a stage in the 2004 Tour de l'Avenir, a race known as a mini-Tour de France for riders under 23.[7][8] He wore the yellow jersey for two days and finished 10th overall. He was in major breakaway in the 2006 World championships in Salzburg, Austria.[9] Soon after, he signed a two-year contract with Crédit Agricole on the back of his many good results this season.

In 2007, Roche rode the Giro d'Italia. In June, he won his first Elite national title, the Time Trial in Dungarvan.[10] He came also fourth in the Road Race Championship. Due to injury, Roche withdrew from the Tour of Ireland and missed the World Championship.

Roche had planned 2008 for the Giro d'Italia but organizers RCS did not invite his team. He changed his schedule, and finished 6th in the Tour Ivoirien de la Paix, 15th in Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas in Spain and won a stage[11] in GP Internacional Paredes Rota dos Móveis in Portugal. After finishing 7th of the Tour de Wallonie, he competed in the Beijing Olympic road race, teaming with Philip Deignan, won a stage in the Tour du Limousin, and was then picked for his first Vuelta a España. Roche had good performances in the Vuelta, nearly winning Stage 18 into Las Rozas, where he was outsprinted by Imanol Erviti after a 17-man breakaway. Roche had three top-10 and ten top-20 stage finishes, finishing a fine 13th in the general classification, during what was only his second Grand Tour.

Roche along with Deignan and Roger Aiken made up the Irish team for the 2008 World Championship in Varese. Roche was in an early crash and retired.

[edit] 2009

Roche in 2009

Roche signed a two-year contract with Ag2r-La Mondiale following the end of Crédit Agricole.

After winning the Irish National Road Race Championship for the first time in June 2009, it was announced that Roche had been selected by Ag2r to ride his first Tour de France the following month. He had a fine debut Tour, finishing in 23rd place overall and 5th in the points classification.

He was UCI World Ranked 144th at the end of the 2009 season with 15 pts, which helped Ireland to 16th place in the nation rankings.

[edit] 2010

Roche training before the 2010 Tour de France

After a good early season, where he finished 10th in Paris-Nice and 5th in the Volta a Catalunya, Roche was chosen as the leader of the Ag2r-La Mondiale team in the Tour de France and during the race he wrote articles for the Irish Independent newspaper. Roche finished 15th overall. He could have been a few ranks above had he not lost 4 minutes to the race leaders because of a flat tyre in stage 15.

In September, Roche led AG2R at the Vuelta a España. His performance was even better than during the Tour de France, as he was really close to the best climbers of the race, losing very little time in stages with a mountain top finish. He finished 7th overall, only 5 minutes and 3 seconds behind overall winner Vincenzo Nibali. This place was the best in a Grand Tour by an Irishman since 1988. The performance lifted him to 32nd in the year end UCI World Rankings with 148 pts. This helped Ireland to 17th place in the nation rankings (254 pts).

Roche was part of the 3 man Irish team at the 2010 World Championships in December.

[edit] 2011

Roche in the Prologue of the 2011 Tour de Romandie

Roche's season was hampered by injuries and crashes, particularly by one in the Critérium du Dauphiné[12] He entered the Tour de France as a team leader again, but quickly realized he had not fully recovered from the crash and could not hope for a good general classification. He got in a number of unsuccessful breaks in the final week, hoping to grab a stage win, and eventually finished 26th overall. He also rode the Vuelta a España, finishing 16th overall.

In October, Roche won the 3rd stage of the inaugural Tour of Beijing.[13][14] This marked his first international victory in 3 years and his first ever win on the World Tour. He finished the season world ranked 150th with 19 ranking points, thus helping Ireland to 13th in the nation rankings with 319 points.

Roche published a memoir in 2011 called Inside the Peloton. It won that years Irish Book Award in the Sports Book category.

[edit] 2012

Provisional schedule:

Dates Event Country Rank
4 February G.P. Costa degli Etruschi  Italy 1.1
15–19 February Volta ao Algarve  Portugal 2.1
26 February G.P. Città di Lugano  Switzerland 1.1
4–11 March Paris - Nice  France World Tour
17 March Milano - Sanremo  Italy World Tour
19–25 March Volta Ciclista a Catalunya  Spain World Tour
10 April Paris-Camembert  France 1.1
17–20 April Giro del Trentino  Italy 2.HC
22 April Liège - Bastogne - Liège  Belgium World Tour
13–20 May Tour of California  USA 2.HC
9–17 June Tour de Suisse  Switzerland World Tour
24 June Irish Championships Road Race  Ireland C.N
30 June - 22 July Tour de France  France World Tour
28 July Olympic Games Road Race  UK J.O
14 August Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian  Spain World Tour
18 August - 9 September Vuelta a España  Spain World Tour
23 September World Championships Road Race  Netherlands C.M
29 September Il Lombardia  Italy World Tour
10–14 October Tour of Beijing  China World Tour

[edit] Palmarès

[edit] Yearly Progression

2004 – VC La Pomme Marseille
2004 – Cofidis (stagiaire)
2005 – Cofidis
2006 – Cofidis
2007 – Crédit Agricole
2008 – Crédit Agricole
2009 – Ag2r-La Mondiale
2010 – Ag2r-La Mondiale
2011 - Ag2r-La Mondiale
2012 - Ag2r-La Mondiale

[edit] Grand Tour General Classification results timeline

Grand Tour 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Pink jersey Giro 123 - - - -
Yellow jersey Tour - - 22 14 25
golden jersey Vuelta - 13 - 7 16

WD = withdrew

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Roche makes it official". IrishCycling.com. http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/exec/view.cgi?archive=1&num=752. Retrieved 2007-07-18. 
  2. ^ "Reluctant Roche declares for France". CyclingNews.com. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/mar05/mar05news. Retrieved 2007-11-06. 
  3. ^ "Mixed start to season after Roche’s shock defection". IrishAbroad.com. http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishpost/sport/mixedstartshockdefection.asp. Retrieved 2007-11-06. 
  4. ^ "2002 Michael Donnelly Junior Tour of Ireland results". CyclingNews.com. http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/?id=2002/aug02/jnrireland02/default. Retrieved 2008-06-29. 
  5. ^ "2004 Irish Elite Road Race Championships". CyclingNews.com. http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2004/jun04/ireland04. Retrieved 2008-06-29. 
  6. ^ "Roche redeclares for Ireland". CyclingNews.com. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/oct05/oct11news. Retrieved 2007-11-06. 
  7. ^ "2006 Tour de l'Avenir Stage 4 results". CyclingNews.com. http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2006/aug06/avenir06/avenir064. Retrieved 2007-07-18. 
  8. ^ "2006 Tour de l'Avenir Stage 4 description". LeTour.com. http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDA/LIVE/us/400/index.html. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
  9. ^ "Bettini wins world championships, Roche impresses with aggressive move". CyclingNews.com. http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/exec/view.cgi?archive=8&num=2051. Retrieved 2007-07-18. 
  10. ^ "Roche wins Irish time trial championships". IrishCycling.com. http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_2506.shtml. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
  11. ^ "Win for Roche in Portugal". IrishCycling.com. http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_3040.shtml. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
  12. ^ Cromwell, Gerard (2011-06-11). "Cycling: Roche hopes battered by horror crash". Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling-roche-hopes-battered-by-horror-crash-2672240.html. 
  13. ^ "Nicolas Roche wins stage three to claim first WorldTour race victory". Daily Telegraph (London). 7 October 201. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/8814374/Tour-of-Beijing-2011-Nicolas-Roche-wins-stage-three-to-claim-first-WorldTour-race-victory.html. Retrieved 12 October 2011. 
  14. ^ "Roche beats Deignan in Yong Ning Town". Cycling News. 7 October 2011. http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-beijing-wt/stage-3/results. Retrieved 12 October 2011. 

[edit] External links

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